Stairway



Patented Jury 7, 1925.

UNITED 4STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BOBEET` M. lBEcIrinsI.,V OE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNoB, BY MESNEYU ASSIGNMENTS, To PREMIER. SAFETY TBEAB sTAIB. COMPANY, OE PHILADELPHIA,

PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OE DELAWARE.

STAIRWAY.

Application' Elea August so, 1924. semi No. 735,208.

To all whom t may concern.'

' Be it. known that I, ROBERT M. BEoHTE-L, a citizenof 'the United States, residing at 4623 Edmund Street, Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Penn- Sylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Stairways, of which-the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in a` stairway, and more particularly to steel stair construction or a structure embodying the use of Steel, cement and non-.slipping devices or Sections, and has for its primary object to improve the construction of such stairways, whereby a portion of the step surface or secondary tread is provided with non-slipping sections or insertsl so arranged thatportions thereof produce the nosing of the stair.

Stairways of this same general class now on the market almost universally provide non-slipping devices on the step surface.

Such an arrangement prevents a person l from slipping after the foot has been placed well back upon the step, but during the motions of ascending or descending the stairs, a person more often places the ball of the foot upon or close to the stair nosing, and in the ordinary construction of this character of stairway, the foot rests upon a plain smooth piece 0f steel, so that a persons foot slips, sometimes causing serious injury and even death.

One of the objects of this invention is to eliminate or reduce to a minimum the likelihood of a person slipping while ascending or descending the stairway, and to tl is gend, the non-slipping inserts are so placed in the secondary tread of the steel stair that portions of said non-slipping inserts are eX- posed at the front of the stair nosing, so that as a persons foot is moved toward or carried away from a step, the foot will contact with the non-slipping inserts.

Vith these ends in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and the combination of elements hereinafter set forth, and then specifically designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, may understand how to make and use the same, I. Will describe its construction in detail, referring forming a part of this application, which f Fig. l, is a sectional perspective View of a portion of a stairway, embodying my invention, with the non-slipping inserts left out of one of the secondary treads. l

Fig. 2, is an edge view of one of the complete units, per se.

In carrying out my invention, as herein embodied, 2 represents a steel unit, generally constructed of steel, and is so fashioned asl to provide a primary tread 3 having a lip 4 turned up from its front edge, while from the rear edge is formed aninwardly projecting wall and from this extends the riser 6. From the upper part of the riser extends the inwardly projecting easement 7, and from this projects the nosing 8 having the outwardly projecting secondary tread 9 eX- tending therefrom.

While the description. thus far has set forth a steel unit of specification from which it is to be understood that the details may be considerably changed without departing from the spirit of the invention, it being specifically understood that the cross section of the secondary tread and nosing may be of any desired shape and that the wall 5 actually forms a part of the riser 6, and therefore, its elimina-tion or retention is optional.

The secondary tread 9 and its nosing 8 has an aperture or apertures l0 formed therein, and where a plurality of such apertures are produced, the metal between them forms connecting strips 1l. As this forms the basis of this particular invention, great stress is laid upon the fact that the aperture or apertures extend over the major portion of the tread and down some suitable distance of the nosing.

In each aperture is placed a non-slipping insert 12, comprising a body 13 and a rib le running longitudinally thereof and projecting from its inner or bottom face, and since said rib is of less widththan the body, a shoulder 15 is produced which rests upon the upper edge of the nosing provided by the aperture. The rear edge of each insert is preferably beveled as at 16 so as to tend Y dove-tailed as shown at 17.

`In actual practice, the stairway is made up of a number ofthe units 2 so positioned relative to each other that the lip i of onev unit overlaps or rests upon the easement 7 of a coacting unit, and the two units 'are fastened together at this point by suitable attaching devices 18, such as bolts and nuts. The stairway being complete, the step is produced by -theuse ofA a suitable iller placed upon the primary tread 3, and as here shown, this filler consists oi' cement -19 With a top surface of suitable refractoring material, such as a finer cement, a slab of marble or any other suitable material. V'lhe non-slipping inserts may be placed in position prior to pouring the cement 19 or just after the cement has been poured and before -it begins torset, so that the ribs 14 on the inserts will be actually embedded'in the cement and thus 'prevented from Withdrawal.

Of course, I do not Wish to be limited to the exact details of construction as herein shown and described, as these may be varied Within the limits of the appended claims without department from the spirit of my invention. Y

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is:

1. A stair construction including a secondary tread and an integral nosin said tread and nosing having apertures ormed therein extending over the major area of the secondary tread and down an a preciable distance' on the face portion of t e nosing', in combination with non-slipping inserts positioned in the apertures so as to expose a substantially .continuous surface in front of the nosing and on top o the secondary tread. Y

2. A stair construction 'including' a BBC- ondary tread and an integral nosing, said tread and nosing having apertures :formed therein extending uninterrupted over a portion of the secondary tread and down an appreciable distance 'on the face rtion of said nosing, in combination with` nonslipping inserts positioned in the a rtures with the frontportions resting on t e edges of the nosing produced, by the aperturesand having their upper surfaces projecting above the secondary tread so as to expose a substantially continuous surface in front of the nosing and -on top of the secondarytread. Y

In testimony whereof, I' have hereunto affixed my signature. Y

j 4ROBERT M. BECHTEL. 

